Amid what the West fears as a politically motivated witch hunt, Ukrainian prosecutors have charged former prime minister and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko with misusing about $500 million in state funds. If convicted, she faces prison time and disqualification from future elections. Tymoshenko spoke with NEWSWEEK’s William Schreiber about what she describes as a Soviet-style crackdown on opposition.

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski met Barack Obama last week at the White House to discuss the new START treaty as well as economic cooperation. Afterward, at the press conference, Obama mentioned the plane crash in Russia last April that killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other members of the Polish elite. The political fallout of this tragedy was on the mind of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the late president’s twin brother, and head of the opposition when he spoke to NEWSWEEK’s William Schreiber. Excerpts:

On Sunday, Nov. 21, thousands of tourists and Roman Catholic pilgrims gathered in the small town of Swiebodzin, near Poland’s border with Germany. They came to witness the consecration of Christ the King, now officially the world’s tallest statue of Jesus—at 167 feet, including the hill it’s perched upon, it’s a full 42 feet higher than Rio de Janeiro’s famous Christ the Redeemer monument. Bishop Stefan Regmunt, who led the ceremony, called the statue a visible sign of faith—hardly an incendiary statement.